The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to irrigation and, more particularly, to a system for preparing gypsum slurry for irrigation.
There are several regions in the United States (e.g., the southwestern United States including New Mexico, Southern California, and parts of Texas) and throughout the world that experience shortages in potable water supplies due, in part, to the arid climate of these geographic locales. As water supplies are limited, innovative irrigation techniques for farm lands, parks, golf courses, and may be used.
For instance, high efficiency irrigation used in arid regions may use reclaimed water and/or treated waste water. However, using reclaimed water and/or treated waste water may lead to soil degradation. For example, sodium salts and carbonates may accumulate in the soil resulting in absorption ratio toxicity in plants due to the increased sodium to calcium ratio in the water surrounding the plant roots. Furthermore, high sodium content in plant soil may cause soil crusting which may inhibit irrigation water from efficiently permeating the soil and reaching plant roots. Moreover, excess carbonate soil build-up may elevate soil pH and cause various plant nutrients to become insoluble, thus limiting the ability of plants to absorb nutrients for plant growth.
Gypsum may be used to improve soil quality. For example, gypsum may be used to increase the calcium content of the irrigation water and lower the sodium content in the soil. However, when gypsum is applied to soil as a powder, dusting issues, root absorption problems, and soil crusting may result. In some applications, irrigation water and a gypsum slurry may be injected directly into the soil and to the roots of plants using a drip irrigation system. In such applications, the gypsum slurry may be added to the drip irrigation system and applied directly to the soil in a localized manner. With the addition of the gypsum slurry to the irrigation water, application of gypsum may occur during the plant growing season and may perform soil conditioning without harming crops. However, scaling and plugging may occur within a drip irrigation systems because of the gypsum slurry in the irrigation water.